Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor
Underground necropolis guarded by thousands of clay soldiers, its central tomb still unopened.
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About this audio guide
This guide to the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor outside Xi'an starts with a number that never sat right with historians: the seven hundred thousand laborers the ancient historian Sima Qian said built this tomb, and the gap between his account and what modern archaeology suggests. It follows nine farmers digging a well during a 1974 drought, and Yang Zhifa's discovery of a pottery head that turned out to belong to thousands of buried clay soldiers standing guard a mile from where you stand. Sima Qian also left an account of what he believed lay in the sealed chamber beneath the mound ahead of you, rivers and mechanisms among it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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